We determine if you qualify for the head of household filing status based on the
legal definition of these terms.

Adopted Child

An adopted child is a child you legally adopted. After legal adoption, the child
is considered your child by blood. Before legal adoption, a child is considered
your child for head of household purposes if, during the tax year, an authorized
agency placed the child with you for adoption and the child was a member of your
household. Also see the definition for Qualifying Child.

Considered Unmarried or Considered Not in a Registered
Domestic Partnership

If you were married or an RDP as of the last day of
the tax year or if your spouse/RDP died
during the tax year, you may be considered unmarried or considered not in a registered
domestic partnership for head of household purposes if you meet all of
the following requirements:

You must be entitled to claim a Dependent
Exemption Credit for your child; that is, your child must meet the requirements
to be either a qualifying child or qualifying
relative and meet the joint return and citizenship tests. You cannot claim
a Dependent Exemption Credit for your child if you could be claimed as a dependent
by another taxpayer.

You can still meet this requirement if the only reason you cannot claim a
Dependent Exemption Credit for your child is because either of the following applies,
as provided in a decree of divorce, legal separation, or termination of registered
domestic partnership, or a written separation agreement that applies to the tax
year at issue:

The custodial parent signed a written statement that he or she will
not claim the Dependent Exemption Credit for the child. (The custodial
parent may sign federal Form 8332, Release of Claim to Exemption for Child
of Divorced or Separated Parents, or a similar statement. The custodial
parent can revoke their Form 8332 or similar statement by providing written
notice to the other parent.) The noncustodial parent must attach a copy
of the statement to his or her income tax return.

If either of the above provisions was contained in a pre-1985 decree or agreement,
the noncustodial parent must have provided more than $600 in support for
the child during the year.

Death or Birth

If the person who you believe qualifies you as head of household is born or dies
during the year, you may still be able to claim the head of household filing status.
You must have provided more than half the cost of keeping
up a home that was the person's main home for more
than half the year. However, the requirement that the home must have been the
person’s main home for more than half the year does not apply if the person
was not alive for more than half the year. In that case, the home must have been
the person’s main home for the period that the person was alive during the
year.

However, you cannot claim any dependents if you could be claimed as a dependent
by another taxpayer.

Joint Return Test. Even if your qualifying person meets the
requirements to be a qualifying child or qualifying relative, you are generally
not allowed an exemption if he or she files a joint income tax return. However,
you may take an exemption for a qualifying person who files a joint income tax
return, if both of the following apply:

Neither your qualifying person nor their spouse/RDP would have a federal
or state tax liability if they filed separate returns.

Your qualifying person and their spouse/RDP only filed a joint income
tax return to get a refund of income tax withheld.

Citizenship Test. For some part of the calendar year in which
your tax year begins, the qualifying child or qualifying relative must be a U.S.
citizen or national, or a resident of the U.S., Canada,
or Mexico.

Divorced or Registered Domestic Partnership Terminated

You are divorced or your registered domestic partnership is terminated if you
have a final decree of divorce or a final decree terminating your registered domestic
partnership that was effective by the last day of the tax year. Living apart from
your spouse/RDP,
or filing a petition for divorce or termination of registered domestic partnership
is not the same as having a final decree.

Your registered domestic partnership is also legally terminated if you filed
a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership with the California Secretary of
State and the six-month waiting period for the notice to become final has passed.

Eligible Foster Child

Full-Time Student

A full-time student attends school during some part of each of five calendar months
during the year. The school must have a:

Regular teaching staff.

Course of study.

Regularly enrolled body of students in attendance.

The student must be enrolled for the number of hours or courses considered by
the school as full-time attendance or the student must be taking a full-time, on-farm
training course given either by a school or by a state or political subdivision
of a state. Schools may include primary and secondary schools, as well as technical
schools, colleges, and universities.

Gross Income

Your qualifying relative’s gross income must be less than the federal exemption
amount for the year in question. Generally, gross income for head of household purposes
only includes income that is taxable for federal income tax purposes. It does not
include nontaxable income such as welfare benefits or the nontaxable portion of
social security benefits.

If your qualifying relative was married or an RDP,
you must consider the qualifying relative’s community interest in the spouse/RDP’s
income in applying the gross income test. For the federal allowable exemption amount,
see the federal instruction booklet for that particular tax year. For more information,
go to irs.gov and search for Publication 17, Your
Personal Income Tax.

Keeping Up Your Home

You are keeping up your home only if you pay more than half the cost of keeping
up the home for the year. Generally, if two or more people keep up the same home,
only one of the people could pay more than half the costs and qualify for the head
of household filing status.

However, when two or more families occupy the same dwelling, each family may be
treated as keeping up a separate home if:

The taxpayer who provides more than half the cost of maintaining that separate
home is treated as keeping up that separate home.

To determine whether you paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home,
complete the following worksheet. Do not include costs of clothing, education, medical
treatment, vacations, life insurance, transportation, rental value of a home you
own, or value of your services or those of the person qualifying you as head of
household.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (formerly Aid to Families with Dependent
Children) payments you use to keep up your home do not count as
amounts you paid.

Cost of Keeping Up Your Home

Amount You Paid

Total Cost

Rent

$

$

Mortgage Interest

$

$

Property Taxes

$

$

Property Insurance

$

$

Utilities

$

$

Upkeep/Repairs

$

$

Food Consumed on the Premises

$

$

Other Household Expenses

$__________

$__________

Totals

$

$

Minus Total Amount You Paid

$ (
)

Amount Others Paid

$ __________

If the total amount you paid is more than the amount others paid, you meet the
requirement that you paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home.

Legally Separated

You are legally separated if you live apart from your spouse/RDP under a final
decree of legal separation that is effective by the last day of the tax year. A
petition for legal separation or an informal separation agreement is not the same
as a final decree of legal separation. Also, simply living apart from a spouse/RDP
is not the same as being legally separated under a final decree of legal separation.

Main Home

Your home must be the main home for yourself and the person who you believe qualifies
you for head of household filing status for more
than half the year. Generally, the location of your and the other person’s
main home is determined by where you and the other person actually lived. You and
your qualifying person must have lived together in your home for more than half
the year, except for temporary absences. (See Parent/Stepparent
(Father or Mother) and Temporary Absence.)

If you marry or enter into a registered domestic partnership during the tax year
but do not live with your spouse/RDP due to housing, education, business, religious,
military, or other reasons, you and your spouse/RDP are still considered members
of the same household because there is no intent to end the marriage or registered
domestic partnership. Your spouse's/RDP's absence from your home is considered a temporary
absence and you and your spouse/RDP are treated as having lived together from
the date you married or entered into a registered domestic partnership.

More Than Half the Year

Just because someone lived with you for six months does not mean that the person
lived with you for more than half the year. A year has 365 days, and more than half
the year is 183 days. (A leap year has 366 days, and more than half a leap year
is 184 days.)

To determine how many days your home was your qualifying person’s main
home, follow these guidelines:

If you were not married and not an RDP at any time during the year, count all
of the days that your qualifying person lived with you in your home.

If you were married or an RDP at any time during
the year and received a final decree of divorce, legal
separation, or your registered domestic partnership was legally terminated
by the last day of the year, add together:

Half the number of days that you, your spouse/RDP,
and your qualifying person lived together in your home.

All of the days that you and your qualifying person lived together in your
home without your spouse/RDP (ex-spouse/ex-RDP).

If you were married or an RDP as of the last day of the year, and you did not
live with your spouse/RDP at any time during the last six months of the year, add
together:

Half the number of days that you, your spouse/RDP, and your qualifying person
lived together in your home.

All of the days that you and your qualifying person lived together in your
home without your spouse/RDP.

If you were married or an RDP as of the last day of the year, and you lived
with your spouse/RDP at any time during the last six months of the year, you cannot
qualify for the head of household filing status.

When calculating the above, you may include days when your qualifying person was
temporarily absent from your home. Temporary absences include
vacations, illness, business, school, or military service.

Multiple Support Agreement

Sometimes no one person provides more than half the support for
an individual. Instead, two or more persons together provide more than half the
individual's support. Each of these persons would be able to take the Dependent
Exemption Credit except for the support test (see Dependent
Exemption Credit).

When this happens, those providing the support can agree that one of them, who
individually provides more than 10 percent of the individual's support, can take
the exemption for that individual.

If you can take a Dependent Exemption Credit for an individual only because of
a multiple support agreement, that individual cannot qualify you for the head of
household filing status.

National

A U.S. national is an individual who, although not a U.S. citizen, owes allegiance
to the U.S. This includes American Samoans and Northern Mariana Islanders who chose
to become U.S. nationals instead of U.S. citizens. For more information, go to irs.gov and
search for Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens, or contact your local bureau
of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Noncustodial Parent

The custodial parent is the parent in whose home a child lived for the greater
part of the year. The noncustodial parent is the parent who is not the custodial
parent. A child is treated as the qualifying child or qualifying
relative of the noncustodial parent if all of the following conditions are met:

The parents are divorced, legally
separated, their registered domestic partnership has been legally terminated,
or they lived apart at all times during the last six months of the year. (Parents
who are married or RDPs or who have never married each other must live apart at
all times during the last six months of the year.)

The child received more than half of his or her support during
the calendar year from his or her parents.

Either of the following applies, as provided in a decree of divorce, legal separation,
or termination of registered domestic partnership, or as provided in a written
separation agreement that applies to the tax year at issue:

The noncustodial parent is entitled to the Dependent Exemption Credit
for the child.

The custodial parent signed a written statement that he or she will not
claim the Dependent Exemption Credit for the child. (The custodial parent
may sign federal Form 8332, Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced
or Separated Parents, or a similar statement. The custodial parent can revoke
their Form 8332 or similar statement by providing written notice to the
other parent.) The noncustodial parent must attach a copy of the statement
to his or her income tax return.

If either of the above provisions was contained
in a pre-1985 decree or agreement, the noncustodial parent must have provided
more than $600 in support for the child during the year.

The noncustodial parent qualifies for the Dependent Exemption Credit for a child
who is treated as his or her qualifying child or qualifying relative under the conditions
set forth above. However, the noncustodial parent does not qualify for head of household
filing status.

Nonresident Alien

An alien is a person who is not a U.S. citizen. If you are a nonresident alien
during any part of the year, you do not qualify for head of household filing status
even though you may meet all of the other requirements for the filing status. For
more information, go to irs.gov and search for
Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

Nonresident Alien Spouse/RDP

If your spouse/RDP was
a nonresident alien at any time during the year, you are unmarried or
not a registered domestic partner for head of
household purposes. If you are unmarried and not a registered domestic partner,
you have a wider range of relatives who can qualify you for head of household filing
status.

However, if you chose to treat your nonresident alien spouse/RDP as a resident
alien, you remain married or an RDP for head of household
purposes. As a married taxpayer or RDP, only your child can qualify you for the
head of household filing status.

You are considered to have chosen to treat your nonresident alien spouse/RDP as
a resident alien if all the following conditions are met:

You and your nonresident alien spouse/RDP filed a joint return in a previous
year.

You chose to treat your nonresident alien spouse/RDP as a resident so you could
file the joint return.

You have not revoked that choice by the extended due date for filing the return
at issue.

For more information, go to irs.gov and search
for Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

Not in a Registered Domestic Partnership

You were not in a registered domestic partnership if one of the following applied
on the last day of the year:

You have never entered into a registered domestic partnership.

Your registered domestic partnership was annulled and you did not enter into
another registered domestic partnership after the annulment.

Your RDP died in a prior year and you did not enter into another registered
domestic partnership.

Your registered domestic partnership was legally terminated under a final decree
of dissolution. Neither a petition for termination nor an interlocutory decree
of termination is the same as a final decree. Until the final decree is issued,
an RDP remains in a registered domestic partnership.

You were legally separated from your RDP under
a final decree of legal separation. A petition for legal separation or an informal
separation agreement is not the same as a final decree of legal separation. Also,
just living apart from your RDP is not the same as being legally separated under
a final decree of legal separation.

You filed a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary
of State and the six-month waiting period for the notice to become final passed.

Parent/Stepparent (Father or Mother)

Stepparents are treated the same as parents for tax purposes. If you were unmarried
and not an RDP, you may be eligible for the head of household filing status
even if your father or mother did not live with you. However, your parent must
have been a citizen or national of the United States, or
a resident of the United States, Canada, or Mexico.

You must be entitled to claim a Dependent Exemption Credit for your parent. That
is, your parent must meet the requirements of a qualifying
relative and you must have paid more than half the cost of keeping
up a home that was your parent’s main home for the entire year. Your parent’s main home could have been his or her own home,
such as a house or apartment, or could have been any other living accommodation.

Age Test. The person must be under 19 years of age or a full-time
student under 24 years of age. The person also meets the age test if he or
she is permanently and totally disabled at any time during the calendar year.
(If the person does not meet the age test to be a qualifying child, he or she
may meet the requirements to be a qualifying relative.)

Support Test. The person must not have provided more than half
of his or her own support.

If your qualifying child was married or an RDP, you must be entitled to a Dependent
Exemption Credit for your qualifying child in order to qualify for head of household
filing status. Therefore, the qualifying child must also meet the two additional
tests for dependency (joint return test and citizenship test.) See Dependent
Exemption Credit for more information.

Special Test for Qualifying Child of More Than One Person.
If two or more taxpayers including a parent claim the same child as a qualifying
child for a particular tax year, the person shall be treated as the qualifying
child of the taxpayer who is:

A parent of the person, or

If none of the taxpayers is a parent, the taxpayer with the highest adjusted
gross income for the taxable year.

If the parents both claim the same child, their child shall be the qualifying
child of:

The parent with whom the child resided for the greater portion of the taxable
year, or

The parent with the highest adjusted gross income, if the child resides with
both parents for the same amount of time during the taxable year.

Qualifying Person

You must have a qualifying person who is related to you to qualify for head of
household filing status. Your qualifying person must meet the requirements to be
either a qualifying child or qualifying
relative. You must also pay more than half the cost of keeping
up your home in which you and the qualifying child or qualifying relative lived
for more than half the year. You may not claim
yourself, your spouse/RDP,
or your tax preparer as your qualifying person.

Qualifying Relative

A qualifying relative is a person who meets all of the following tests:

Not a Qualifying Child Test. Your qualifying person must not
meet the requirements to be your qualifying child or
the qualifying child of anyone else.

Relationship or Member of the Household Test.1 The
person must be one of the relatives listed below.2 If
at any time during the year the person was your spouse/RDP, the person cannot qualify
as your dependent and you are not entitled to claim a Dependent Exemption Credit
for the person.

A person who is not one of the relatives listed cannot qualify you for the
head of household filing status. Under no circumstances shall the same person be
used to qualify more than one taxpayer for the head of household filing status
for the same year.

(1) Any unrelated person who
lived with you all year as a member of your household can qualify you for a Dependent
Exemption Credit as long as all the other requirements for the credit are
met. However, such a person cannot qualify you for head of household
filing status. A cousin is a descendant of a brother or sister of your parents
and is not one of the relatives who by law can qualify you
for head of household filing status.

(2) Any one of the relationships listed
above that were established when the taxpayer married or entered into a registered
domestic partnership are not ended if the taxpayer divorces or terminates
the registered domestic partnership, or his or her spouse/RDP dies.

(3) An uncle or aunt may qualify you only
if he or she is the brother or sister of your father or mother.

(4) A nephew or niece may qualify you only
if he or she is the child of your brother or sister.

Gross Income Test. To qualify for head of household filing
status, your qualifying relative’s gross income must be less than the federal
exemption amount for the year in question. In addition, you are not entitled to
a Dependent Exemption Credit for a qualifying relative whose gross income was equal
to or more than the federal allowable dependent exemption amount for that particular
year.

If your qualifying relative was married or an RDP,
you must consider your qualifying relative's community interest in his or her spouse's/RDP's
income in applying the gross income test. For the federal allowable exemption amount,
see the federal instruction booklet for that particular tax year. For more information,
go to irs.gov and search for Publication 17, Your
Personal Income Tax.

Support Test. You must provide more than half of a person’s
total support during the calendar year to meet the support
test. To determine whether you have provided more than half the support, compare
the amount you contributed for the person’s support to the entire amount
of support the person received from all sources. All sources include tax-exempt
income, such as social security benefits and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(formerly Aid to Families with Dependent Children), and the person’s own
funds used for support.

Your contribution may not include any part of the person’s support that was
paid by the person with the person’s own wages, even if you paid the wages.
The person’s own funds are not support unless they are actually spent for
support. Also, see Multiple Support Agreement.
For more information, go to irs.gov and search
for Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

To qualify for head of household filing status, you must be entitled to a Dependent
Exemption Credit for your qualifying relative. Therefore, the qualifying relative
must also meet the two additional tests for dependency (joint return test and citizenship
test.) See Dependent Exemption Credit for
more information.

Registered Domestic Partner (RDP)

A registered domestic partner is a person who has filed a Declaration of Domestic
Partnership with the California Secretary of State. Your RDP cannot be your qualifying
person for head of household filing status.

Spouse

Stepchild

A stepchild is not your birth child but is the birth child or adopted
child of your spouse/RDP.
To have a stepchild, you must have at some time been married to,
or in a registered domestic partnership with, the child’s birth parent. You
are treated as the child's stepparent if you are in a registered domestic partnership
with the child's birth parent.

Support

To determine whether you have provided more than half the support for a person,
compare the amount you contributed for the person's support to the entire amount
of support the person received from all sources. All sources include tax-exempt
income such as social security and welfare benefits, as well as the person's own
funds. Your contribution may not include any part of the person's support that was
paid by the person with the person's own wages, even if you paid the wages. The
person's own funds are not support unless they are actually spent for support. Also,
see Multiple Support Agreement and the Support
Test under Qualifying Relative.

Temporary Absence

A temporary absence may be due to illness, education, business, vacations, military
service, and, in some cases, incarceration.

Even if you, your spouse/RDP,
or your qualifying person were temporarily absent
from your home, you are considered to have occupied the same household.

For an absence to be temporary, it must be reasonable to assume that you, your
spouse or RDP, or your qualifying person will return to the household after the
temporary absence, and you must have continued to maintain a household in anticipation
of the return.

Unmarried and Not an RDP

You were unmarried and not an RDP if one of the following applied on the last
day of the year:

You were never married and never entered into a
registered domestic partnership.

You received a final decree of divorce, dissolution of registered domestic partnership,
or you filed a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership with the California
Secretary of State and the six-month waiting period for the notice to become final
had passed. A petition for divorce or dissolution of registered domestic partnership
is not the same as a final decree. Until the final decree is issued, a taxpayer
who is married or an RDP remains married or an RDP.

You received a final decree of legal separation from your spouse/RDP. A petition
for legal separation, an informal separation agreement, or just living apart from
your spouse/RDP is not the same as being legally separated under a final decree.

You received a final decree of annulment of your marriage or registered domestic
partnership and you did not marry or enter into a registered domestic partnership
after the annulment,

Your spouse/RDP died
in a prior year and you did not remarry or enter into another registered domestic
partnership.

If your spouse/RDP was a nonresident alien at
any time during the year, you are unmarried and not an RDP for head of household
purposes. If you are unmarried and not an RDP, a wider range of relatives can qualify
you for head of household filing status. However, if you chose to treat your nonresident
alien spouse/RDP as a resident alien, you remain married
or an RDP for head of household purposes. Then, only your child can qualify
you for the filing status.

You are considered to have chosen to treat your nonresident alien spouse/RDP as
a resident alien if all the following conditions are met:

You and your nonresident alien spouse/RDP filed a joint return in a previous
year.

You chose to treat your nonresident alien spouse/RDP as a resident so you could
file the joint return.

You have not revoked that choice by the extended due date for filing the return
at issue.

For more information, go to irs.gov and search
for Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

If your spouse died in a prior year and you have not remarried, you are unmarried.

If your spouse died in 2012 or 2013 and you have not remarried or entered into
a registered domestic partnership by the end of the year in 2014, you may be able
to file as a qualifying widow(er) in 2014 if you have a child living with you whom
you can claim as a dependent. The qualifying widow(er) filing status is generally
more favorable than the head of household status. For more information, go to irs.gov and
search for Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

Death of your RDP:

If your RDP died during the year, you were an RDP at the end of the year.

If your RDP died during the year and was a nonresident
alien at some time during the year, you were not an RDP at the end of the
year.

If your RDP died in a prior year and you have not entered into another registered
domestic partnership, you are not an RDP in the current year.

If your RDP died in 2012 or 2013 and you have not married or entered into another
registered domestic partnership by the end of the year in 2014, you may be able
to file as a qualifying widow(er) in 2014 if you have a child living with you whom
you can claim as a dependent. The qualifying widow(er) filing status is generally
more favorable than the head of household status. For more information, go to irs.gov and
search for Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.